Manufacture of hosiery



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.A

Patented Apr.- 1-2, 1892.v

h .av n vL il WJTJVESSES MMM We@ Y UNITED STATES PATE-NT GEEICE.

HENRY" J. GRIswOLD, OE MADISON, CONNECTICUT.

MANU FACTU RE` OF'HOSIERY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 472,876, dated April l2, 1892. I

Applicatvll filed July 23| 1891. Serial No. 400.494; (No specimens.)

To @ZZ whom, it nutty concern.'

Be it known that I, HENRY .IOSIAH GRIS- WOLD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Madisomin the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Hosiery, of which the following is a specification.

Heretofore it has been customary to'. knit the tops of stockings, ends, drawer-bottoms, skirts of shirts, and such like articles of oneand-one ribbed fabric having a fast welt at one end; but it has not been thought possible to make a similar fast welt atrthe top of sections of two-and-one, three-and-one, or other than one-and-one ribbed fabric. When it has been attempted to apply the usual process to, for instance, a two-'and-one ribbed welt, one row of stitches in each rib has not been fast, and if not afterward secured by sewing or otherwise these stitches would ravel the whole length of the stocking or other article. I have discovered that this defect may be obviated by simply putting out of action every alternate cylinder-needle during the first one, two, or three courses of the welt, as clearly set forth in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which* 4 l Figures l to 4 each illustrate a part of the cylinder in section, one of the cylinder-needles and one of the ribbing-needles, the different iigures showing the progressive formation of the welt. of the fabric with the welt. nilied diagrammatic view of tion of the fabric; Y

My -improved welted circular-ribbed fabric, illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 6, may be manufactured upon the machine for which Letters Patent of the United States were granted to me March 17, 1891, No. 448,437, although the use of this special machine is not essential.

I preferably knit the fabric in a series of sections-as, for instance, when knitting stockings-the top of one stocking being joined to the toe of the preceding one, and so on, and cuffs, tops and legs for stockings, and the bottom of drawer-legs and shirts may be likewise so knitted. In each case, however, it isdesir- Fig. 6 is a magthe welted porlcotton or other yarn of little value. lift or otherwise put out of action every alter- Fig. 5 illustrates a sectionv edge down to the base,

able to form upon at least one end of the 'circular-ribbed material or of each section bin the dial, and I knit a few rows of two-andone ribbed work upon thecylinder and dial needles to get the work properly started, using I then nate cylinder-needle, and with the yarn from which the article is to be made knit exactly one row on all the ribbing-needles and the remaining cylinder-needles. I then push back the welting-cam of the ribbing attachment or otherwise put all the ribbing-needles out of action, when the loops 2 of the ribbing-needles will hang upon the latter, as shown in Fig. l.4

I then knit exactly one row on the alternate cylinder-needles which remain in action, and I then put into action the remaining cylinder-needles and knit a number of rows-say six or eight--upon all the cylinder-needles a, thereby forming a short section ric 4, while the loops 2 still remain upon the quiescentdial-needles and are elongated by the downward pull of the weight attached to the fabric, the parts then being in the position shown in Fig. 2.l The dial-needles are then again brought into action, whereby the ends of the loops 2 are brought to the edge of and knitted onto the section 4 that has just been knit, as shown in Fig. 3, after which the body C of the ribbed fabric is knit of two-and-one ribbed web by the joint action of the cylinder `and ribbing needles, as show n in Fig. 4, and

the knitting is continued untilthe body-section is of sufficient length, after which a row of cotton yarn may be knit in and another section may be started and finished as before. By

of plain fabthe means described I form a body-section of fabric C, Fig. 5, with a fast welt d, which consists of a section 4 of fabric, to the upper edge of which are secured the ends of the loops 2, that extend to the base of the said section 4, with more or less tendency to tie the outer according to the tension that has been placed upon the loops.

While I have described the welt as being IOC IOv

I proceed as described above. I

alternate and from the cylinder every fourthl needle. The machine will then be knitting a three-and-one ribbed web. Now to make a fast welt I put out of action the cylinder-needle that is in the middle of each rib while `knitting the first one, two, or three rows and To make a fast welt on a four-and-one ribbed fabric, I remove from the dial every alternate dial needle, leaving all the needles in the cylinder, and put out of action every alternate cylinder-n eedle while knitting the first one, two, or three rows, exactly as when making the welt on a two and one ribbed fabric.

The arrangement of the stitches resulting from the above-described operation will be understood from the diagrammatic view Fig. 6, in which c c indicate the loops on the cylinder-needles and r the loops on the ribbingneedles of the last row of loops upon the body y fabric. When one-half the cylinder-needles c are thrown out of action, the next row of yarn 7 knits only into the-loops c and r, but not into the loops c,which remain on the ribhing-needles out of action. Then the ribbingneedles are drawn back and the loops 2 thereon are stretched, forming long loops 2, (shown in dotted lines,) which are held out of action. The next row of yarn 8 can therefore only knit with the loops c, but not into the loops c and fr. There may be several rows like 8.' The needles c are then again thrown into action and the next layer of yarn 9 knits into the loop c and also into the loops c on the needles now thrown into action. The neXt layer of yarn 10 then knits into the loops c c of 9, but not into the loops 2 of the ribbing-needles that are still out of action. When the ribring-needles are thrown into action, the next layer of yarn 11 knits into all of the loops. It will be seen, therefore, that between the last row of stitches A and the layer 1l there is a thin or open-work fabric that is not a ribbed fabric and the base or lower edge of which is connected with the body of the fabric, while the upper portion is connected at intervals to long loops 2 that were upon the ribbing-needles.

I claim as my invention-- l. A knitted fabric having its body com-'g posed of two-and-one, three-and-one, or other than one-and-one ribbed work and provided with a fast welt, substantially as set forth.

2. A knitted fabric the body of which is composed of two and-one, three-and-one, or otherthan one-and-one ribbed work, with a fast welt consisting of a section 4 and a series of loops 2, extending from the union of the section 4: with the body to the edge of the -section, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to thisv specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY J. GRISWVOLD XVitnesses:

IRENE O. GRISWOLD, H.' W. HUBBARD. 

